Improvement in machines for folding paper



SSheets-Sheetl. S. D. TUCKER.

MACHINE FOR FOLDING PAPER. 11 ,1 ,9 7, Patented March 27,1877.

N, PETERS. PNOYGLITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. D C

. 3 Sheets-Sheet Z. S. D. TUCKER. MACHINE FOR FOLDING PAPER.

No. 188,9 Patented March 27,1877.

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s. n. TUCKER.

MAOHIN No.188,987.

y w W UNITED STATES STEPHEN D. TUCKER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR FOLDING PAPER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 182M987, dated March27, 1877; application filed March 18, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN D. Tuoxnn, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented an Improvement in Machines for Folding Paper, ofwhich the following is a specification:

In the accompanying drawings illustrating this invention is shown, inFigure 1, a side elevatlon, in Fig. 2 a top view, and in Fig. 3 an endview, of an apparatus embodying my improvements, while Figs. 4, 5, and 6illustrate its details in sectional views.

Like characters indicate like parts in all of the figures.

This mechanism is designed for use in connection with a web-printingpress, its function being to first fold a sheet of paper, and then severit'from the web or roll, it being one continuous progressive operation.

The printing-press is not illustrated, but may be of any of the knownforms which operate upon a web of paper, and deliver it printed uponboth its sides. Such a web is illustrated at 1, Figs. 4, 5, and 6, andis supposed to be emerging directly from the printmg-press.

It is led through the bite of the cylinders 2 and 3, one of which, 2, isarmed at one point of its periphery with a cutting blade or knife, 5, ofany approved construction, (that described in my application filedNovember 27, 1875, being preferred,) and at a point of its peripheryopposite to that occupied by the blade 5. This cylinder is armed with acreaser, 6. The other cylinder, 3, is provided with a female cuttingdevice, 7, and a female creasing device, 8. The female cutter is adaptedto the construction of cutting blade or knife used, and in this instanceis simply a longitudinal slot cut into the periphery of the cylinder 3.The creaser 6 is formed by an angular rib projecting beyond theperiphery of the cylinder, one face of which rib is so much shorter thanthe other, as to form an abrupt step, and the female creasing device isa recess in the periphery of the cylinder 3, formed to correspond inshape to that given to the creaser 6.

These creasing devices are so shaped that the paper is gradually pressedinto the recess 8, until a firm hold upon it is secured at which timethe highest part of the rib comes into operative contact with its femalecounterpart, and effects the doubling of the web at nearly right anglesfor a short distance, thus forming a preliminary crease upon which theweb may be subsequently folded.

The creasing devices may be formed upon the face of metal plates letinto the periphery of the cylinders, but in the present instance thefemale creaser is upon one edge of a casting, which, extendingthroughout the diameter of the cylinder, supports the female cuttingdevice at its opposite end.

This casting is also extended at central points at its ends to formjournals 23 upon which thecylinder 3 revolves. The cylinder 3 is boredcentrally (in the construction shown through the casting and itsjournal) to form a pipe, 9, which constitutes a hollow axis resting inordinary hearings in the frame-work.

One end of this hollow axis is closed by a plug or cap, and the otherconnects with a hollow extension-piece, 28, fixed to the side frame, andbetween the two afi air-tight joint is maintained by packing.

A pipe, 13, connects the hollow axis through the extension-piece 28 withan air-exhaust apparatus, that shown being, for convenience ofillustration, in the form of a bellows, 12.

In practice, however, a suitable air-pump, operated at proper intervalsby connections made with some of the rotating shafts of the machine,will be employed, or the air may be exhausted from a suitable reservoirand the connection between it and the cylinder 3 controlled by valves,or the whole exhausting apparatus may be contained within the cylinder.

Numerous openings or small pipes, 1.), communicating with the pipe 9,extend at right angles thereto, and terminate with their orifices in astraight line near the center of the female creaser, as is seen in Fig.2.

During each revolution of the cylinder 3 an exhaust will be maintainedthrough the pipe 9-and the small pipes 10 during the period of timeoccupied by the cylinder in mak ing a quarter revolution, the result ofwhich will be to cause the paper web to be firmly held at the line ofits contact with the row of pipe-orifices 10, to the exterior face ofthe female creasing device, and be carried with it in its circular path,as will be presently explai ned.

Directly beneath the cylinder 3 is a roller, 4, which, like the otherrotating parts of this mechanism, is properly hung in hearings in theframe-work.

The otlice of this roller is to complete the folding or doubling of thesheet, and from it several pairs of conducting rods, wires, or plates,14. lead out in right lines. These condoctors 14 are hung at one end onrods 15, and extend into grooves 16 in the cylinder 3 and roller 4, thuspreventing the sheet from following the peripheries of either, and theirouter ends are fixed to the gage 20 or to the frame-work. Anotherfunction of these conductors is to secure the proper delivery of thefolded sheet, which, as it is carried out between them, is partiallysupported upon and carried forward by the pulleys 17, 18, and 19, andultimately rests against a stop or gage, 20, and over a pair offolding-rollers, 21 22, through which it is doubled by a vibrating orother folder-such, for instance, as that described in Letters Patentgranted to me December 14, 1875.

The sheet is propelled in its outward movement by the contact of thecylinder 3 with the roller 4, aided by the pulleys 17, 18, and 19, whichlatter, deriving motion from the shaft of roller 4, as a consequencemove or feed the sheet with great speed.

When the sheet, especially if of low quality of paper, is allowed toabut against the fixed gage or stop 20 while running at high speed, theforce ofthe blow is sufficient to either turn its folded edge upward, tobreak and distort the folded edge, or to cause the sheet to rebound fromthe gage by the force of the blow it receives, so that when the nextfold is given it will be in a wrinkled condition and out of position.

In order to permit the sheet to be carried out and stopped easily andsmoothly at the high speed with which this machine is adapted to run,and yet insure a correct register of it against the face of the gage 20,l have applied a slowly-moving brake mechanism, which seizes the tailend of the sheet as its head or folded edge approaches close to the gage20, and causes the said sheet to travel slowly during the last part ofits movement up to the gage.

This brake mechanism consists of segments 36 and bearing-pulleys 24,between which the sheet runs. They are geared together by toothed wheels25 26, and are actuated by the toothed wheel 27, which is of the samesize as the cylinderwheel 30, and, like it, meshes with the toothedwheel 32. Thus their movements are so timed that they shall bite orclamp each sheet between them and the pulleys 24, and force it totravel, with a movement equal to that of their surface speed, for adistance which shall cause the sheet to slowly approach and rest againstthe gage 20, the length of time during which the sheet is thus heldbeing just sufficient to accomplish its perfect register, and yet torelease the sheet, to permit it to move through the secondfolding-rollers 21 22, as it is doubled between them by the device,which makes its second fold.

This brake mechanism may be applied to any machine where arapidly-moving sheet is required to register against a gage or stop.

The cylinders 2 3 are geared together by wheels 29 30, and are driven bya toothed wheel, 31, which may represent one of a train connecting witha shaft of the printing-machine.

The roller 4 receives motion through the wheel 32, meshing into thewheel 30, and, by an endless band, 33, moving over a pulley on the shaftof roller 4, which, pressed to duty by idlers 34 35, drives thesheet-carrying pulleys 17 18 19. The leading end of the printed web ispassed between the cylinders 2 3, which are then set in operation.

When a portion, equal to one-half of the predetermined size of thesheet, has passed through the cylinders their creasing devices will havereached the position, and imparted the preliminary crease to the sheet,as shown in Fig. 4. At this time the vacuum created in the pipes 9 and10 will cause the pressure of the atmosphere to hold the sheet upon theface of the female creasing device with a force sufficient to keep itthere. 'As the rotation continues the first edge of the sheet will falldownward and rearward, as in Fig. 5, while its center, held at the pointof creasing, will be carried into the bite of the cylinder 3 and roller4 by means of the exhaust through the pipes 10, which is maintaineduntil the sheet thus doubled has its folded edge fairly entered betweensaid cylinder and roller. It is then driven onward by thesurface-contact of these rotating carriers, and the carrying-pulleys 1718 19, directed by the conductors 14, governed in its speed of travel bythe brake mechanism, registered by the gage, and folded a second time,as before explained. When a length equal to a full sheet has passedthrough the cylinders 2 3 their rotation will have brought their cuttingdevices into operative position, when the sheet will be severed from theweb, the tail of the folded sheet passing between the cylinder 3 androller 4, and the head of the succeeding sheet descending, as in Fig. 4.

The cylinder 2 is not altogether indispensable, though its use in boththe folding and cutting operation is desirable. When the creaser 6 isnot used the sheet may be fed before or onto the cylinder 3 by variousmeans, which will present the sheet with the line of the desired foldopposite or against the apertures of the vacuum apparatus, whichapparatus, set in operation at the proper time, will draw the sheet ontothe cylinder 3, and thus hold and double or fold the sheet between thefolding rollers. When this mode of operation is employed the web may besevered by a cut ting apparatus, such as is shown in Fig. 5

where the dotted cylinders 40 41 represent cutting devices which willsever the web into sheets. These cylinders may themselves constitute theweb-guide, or several pairs of rollers, or guides like those marked 14,may be employed.

The cylinders 3 might be mounted with packed boxes upon a pipe fixed inthe framework, and having one end closed, and the other connected withthe pipe 13. In such a construction the pipe will be provided at properpoints on one side with a row of perforations coinciding in positionwith the inner mouths of the pipes 10, and extending a distance equal toa little less than one-quarter of its circumference, by whicharrangement the pipes 10 will be in communication with theseperforations at a time and for a period which will apply and maintainthe exhaust, so as to hold and fold the sheet, as before described.

The position of the segments 36 and rollers 24 may be reversed, or theshaft of roller 24 may be provided with segments coacting with thesegments 36.

It is furthermore practicable to form the brake mechanism of two sets ofslowly-moving rollers, one of which is moved into surface-contact withthe other at the proper moment, and for a time sufficient to govern themovements of the sheet.

The cylinders 2 3 may be drums, or be composed of short cylinders orpulleys suitably mortised, to hold the cutter and creasing mechanism, orthey may be simple heads connected by crossbars, so as to form acarrier, supporting the cutting and creasing devices.

The roller 4 may be a grooved cylinder, or be made up of several pulleyson a shaft, as in the case of pulleys 17 18 19.

I do not herein claim the brake mechanism described and shown, as thatforms a part of a separate application.

What is claimed, therefore, is-

1. The combination of a rotating sheet-carrier, provided with a vacuumsheet-holding device with a folding device, all substantially asdescribed.

2. In combination with folding-rollers, a mechanism which creates avacuum beneath a sheet along the line of the desired fold, and holds andcarries the sheet into the nip of said folding-rollers, allsubstantially as described.

3. The combination of a mechanism for creasing a sheet along a givenline, a mechanism which holds the sheet in position by creating a vacuumbehind it, and carries it into folding devices, which double it, allsubstantially as described.

4. The combination of two rotating folding devices, (as 3 and 4,) one ofwhich is provided with a means for creating a vacuum along the desiredline of folding, and thus holds the sheet so as to carry it into the nipof said rotating folding devices, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the creasers 6 and 8 and vacuum apparatus with thecylinders or rotating carriers, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the creasers 6 and 8, vacuum apparatus, cylindersor rotating carriers 2 and 3, and the roller 4, substantially asdescribed.

7. The combination of two cylinders or rotating carriers, each one ofthe pair being provided with one member of a cutting apparatus, and withone member of a creasing apparatus, with a sheet-doubling mechanism, allsubstantially as described.

8. The combination ofa cylinder or rotating frame, carrying a cuttingand a creasing device, with sheet-receiving devices co-operatingtherewith, to complete the folding or doubling of the sheet, allsubstantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

STEPHEN D. TUCKER.

Witnesses:

CHAS. W. CARPENTER, CHARLES V. PAGE.

